Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Deputy Speaker –
On weekends at kids’ sport, and at fetes and festivals there’s often a volunteer medic there to tend to bumps and bruises, and sprained ankles.
In the Jewish community that first aid is often provided by Hatzolah, a first responder group.
Yaakov Super, who is in the gallery with us today, is a volunteer medic with Hatzolah.
His mates call him Yanky.
Yanky was on hand to provide routine first aid at the Hanukkah celebration in the park at Bondi, on 14 December.
Yanky was shot in the back that day, just near the footbridge.
He thought he must have been among the first hit because he heard gun shots after he fell, but not before.
The mic draped over his shoulder was shattered, but he found a way to radio for help.
Fragmentation from the bullet collapsed his right lung.
He lay on his folded kippah, hoping the pressure would stop him bleeding out.
His friend, Rabbi Mendy Berger, also in the gallery today, was about 90 metres away, at the other end of the festival.
And he saw Yanky shot –
And while he sheltered his daughter, he saw the whole massacre unfold.
He saw the horror wrought by this evil act of ISIS‑inspired, antisemitic terrorism and he saw the chaos, and then bravery, which followed it.
He saw another man, Elon, shot multiple times, in front of his own little two‑year‑old son, and assumed he was dead.
Rabbi Mendy Ulman was also there and also sheltering his child.
And when Eli Schlanger was gunned down –
The 2 rabbis lost an uncle, and a brother‑in‑law.
Their lives connected by family and faith, now terror and tragedy.
In all, as we know, 15 were killed that day.
And amidst the terror, there are stories of extraordinary bravery and survival.
That Elon survived, that Yanky survived, that at least 55 were wounded and survived, these are miracles.
Deputy Speaker –
Jewish law tells us that when God performs a miracle, you’re obligated to return to that place and give thanks.
Yanky told me about that.
I know that’s what he did, and I know that’s what Elon did too – because I was there when Elon returned for the first time.
And, given what Rabbi Berger and Rabbi Ulman, what Yanky, and Elon have all been through –
It was so unbelievably generous of them –
To spend time with me last week in that breezy and beautiful park.
To talk me through, and walk me through, what happened that day on what Rabbi Berger called ‘the killing ground’, to show me the bullet holes in the trees and in the steel structures of those little gazebos.
To lend me a kippah, to light a candle, and to place an even, which is a little remembrance stone, with me.
Rabbi Berger and Yanky, as I said, are here today and through you, Deputy Speaker, I say to them, thank you.
Together we joined the thousands of others there over the past 5 weeks to pay respects:
To the lives lost to this unspeakable and unfathomable violence, and to their loved ones;
To the witnesses, the lifesavers, police and paramedics – some of whom have been with us today as well – to the reporters, the brave community heroes, the nurses and surgeons and psychologists;
To all those hurt, who are hurting, and who are helping;
And to every Australian who knows this hatred has no place in the sort of society we love and cherish.
Deputy Speaker –
As others have pointed out, Australian Jews have helped shape this nation since the earliest days of European settlement.
From our most distinguished citizens, like General Sir John Monash, and our first Australian‑born Governor General, Sir Isaac Isaacs –
To our friends and neighbours, our workmates and teammates.
This community is woven into the fabric of our national life, an intrinsic part of our Australian story.
And for many – here and around the world – Bondi is a symbol, a part of what it means to be Australian.
Because, in its sun‑drenched freedom, Bondi has formed a big part of our own self‑image.
And now, the sickening atrocity of December 14 is also a part of Bondi, a part of our story.
Deputy Speaker –
As we have heard, the victims at Bondi came from all walks of life:
Rabbis, devoted volunteers, sports lovers;
An IT analyst, a retired police detective;
A Holocaust survivor.
All bound by the simple act of enjoying life and observing faith, under a summer sky, when their lives were cut short.
We say to everyone affected by this horror, and to every Jewish Australian, you have the right to walk the beach, the promenade and the park in safety –
To be proud of your origins, and your heritage.
To celebrate your faith in public should be an act of community, not an act of physical courage.
Deputy Speaker –
Our grief today is shared – because our lives are shared.
When Australians see little Matilda we see our own kids –
The happiness that face painting, or a petting zoo, brings them.
When we see Boris and Sofia Gurman’s courage, we imagine our own parents.
When we see Reuven Morrison, or Ahmed al‑Ahmed, or the police officers, we hope we’d be that brave in that situation
Deputy Speaker –
You don’t need to be a scholar of the Talmud, to understand its message that:
Whoever destroys a single soul is deemed to have destroyed an entire world.
And whoever saves a single soul is deemed to have saved an entire world –
To understand that this attack on this Jewish community is an attack on all Australians.
That an attack on the peaceful act of celebrating Jewish faith is an attack on all our faiths and all of our traditions.
To understand that what happened on 14 December is not something which the Jewish community can or will be left to mourn alone.
Deputy Speaker –
Today we do gather in grief, but we need also to gather in resolve, and in solidarity.
This condolence motion is to demonstrate that this House and the communities we all represent –
Are there for our Jewish sisters and brothers today –
And for everyone affected by the atrocity at Bondi –
And for all of the difficult days of hurting and healing, ahead.